1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator and a method for controlling the same, and, more particularly, to a refrigerator and a method for controlling the same, which is capable of controlling a condenser fan in connection with operation of a compressor when an outdoor temperature sensor is out of order.
2. Description of the Related Art
A refrigerator generates cold air required for refrigeration or freezing, by using a cooling system including a compressor, a condenser, an expansion unit, an evaporator, a condenser fan, various kinds of sensors for collecting information required to perform a cooling operation, etc.
In the cooling system, the evaporator is disposed inside a body typically partitioned into a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber, and the compressor, the condenser, the condenser fan and the like are installed in a machine room under the body. The refrigerator employing such a cooling system performs self-diagnosis for components of the refrigerator before a normal cooling operation is performed. In the self-diagnosis, if an outdoor sensor is found to short or open, disorder of the outdoor sensor is alerted by a buzzer or a light emitting lamp. Simultaneously, operation of the condenser fan driven depending on the outdoor sensor is stopped since temperature obtained through the outdoor sensor is different from actual outdoor temperature. Then, when the compressor is driven according to operation load of the cooling system, it suffers from an overload as cooling function of the condenser is remarkably deteriorated due to the stoppage of the condenser fan. Particularly, when the temperature of the compressor rises excessively as the outdoor temperature becomes very high in the summer, an overload protector provided to protect the compressor operates to cut off a power supply, which results in a trip phenomenon wherein the operation of the compressor is compulsorily stopped. Since it takes a long time for this trip phenomenon of the compressor to disappear, reliability of the refrigerator is lowered and normal operation of the refrigerator for refrigerating or freezing food or beverages is hindered.